• Melbourne's best new sandwiches

The team behind one of Melbourne's most popular cafes, Terror Twilight, are taking on sandwiches with their next venue. Hi Fi is a takeaway-only lunch bar on Collingwood's main strip offering shakes, curly fries and a fancy fillet-o-fish, but there's a serious amount of R&D that's gone into the compact menu.

Co-owner Kieran Spiteri says he and business partner Ben Argentino have been tasting their way through many iterations of the sangas with executive chef Dale Kemp, tossing up whether to toast or serve fresh, go thick or thin with fish fillets, and the best mortadella for the job. Ingredients that passed muster include 5 & Dime Bagels, Cobb Lane focaccia, Dench potato rolls and Uncle's Smokehouse brisket.

Among the seven sandwiches, four are geared to breakfast while three heftier sandwiches, such as a panko-crumbed chicken, are added later in the day. Melbourne's sandwich du jour, a French dip, appears as a riff on onion soup, with a three-cheese toastie playing the leading role.

The shopfront, a former TAB, came with sliding windows that face onto Smith Street, making the decision to focus on takeaway an easy one. Zeroing in on sandwiches was about reading the room, says Spiteri, who noticed Terror Twilight's neighbour To Be Frank bakery was always busy during Melbourne's lockdowns. "Anything to do with bread, people loved."

The name, Hi Fi, refers to Spiteri's enormous record collection that will provide tunes, as well as a pineapple-habanero hot sauce that the team make, along with their own sauerkraut and other ferments.

Malt milkshakes enhance the nostalgia, with house-made syrups (also extensively tested) and a gingerbread-infused milk ensuring they're a cut above. Coffee is the same house roast used at Terror Twilight and joins soft drinks including Strangelove soda.

Spiteri and co aren't sitting still. Their next cafe is already under construction in Moonee Ponds. Designed by Studio Esteta (responsible for Via Porta and The Beach House in Geelong), Convoy will open before the middle of the year with 140 seats including a large outdoor area.

Open daily 9am-3pm.

316 Smith Street, Collingwood, hificollingwood.com.au